Intel is set to release its Core Ultra 200 CPUs based on the Arrow Lake architecture in the next couple of months, but the exact architecture and plan for the next generation of chips after these haven’t been publicly nailed down. A new leak, though, suggests that Intel will skip its upcoming Panther Lake architecture for desktops and jump straight to the following Nova Lake design, mirroring how Intel never released its recent Meteor Lake architecture on desktops, instead keeping them only for laptops and other mobile devices.
This could mean that once the new Intel Arrow Lake CPUs arrive and battle for their place on our best gaming CPU list, we could be waiting for two whole CPU architecture development cycles before a new, even faster product arrives.
The news comes from serial tech story leaker @kaykihn0 (on X) who stated in reply to another X post that “No, PTL is mobile-only. Next consumer desktop is Nova Lake.” PTL, here, refers to Panther Lake, which is the next overarching architecture that Intel is developing to follow on from Arrow Lake. None of this is confirmed by Intel, so it could all be wrong or change, but this would suggest that Intel CPU buyers could face a longer wait for an upgrade than they might have hoped.
While this development might be surprising and potentially disappointing for some, it’s ultimately of little consequence for most gaming CPU buyers. For a start, it’s unlikely that Nova Lake chips will be compatible with Arrow Lake boards, so there isn’t a possible delay on a direct upgrade. Meanwhile, AMD is sure to keep pushing its newest chips to market over this period so there will be plenty of options for those seeking the latest and greatest CPUs. Plus, there’s the basic fact that based on current trends, AMD is the better bet for a gaming CPU for the foreseeable future.
Still, it’s an interesting move from Intel if it proves to be true. The reason Intel skipped launching Meteor Lake (Intel Core Ultra 100) on desktops was because it couldn’t get the new architecture and its new manufacturing process running at fast enough speeds to be competitive. Intel skipping Panther Lake on desktop could suggest it’s facing similar issues with that architecture.
For now, though, of much more importance will be just how Intel Arrow Lake stacks up against AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 CPUs. AMD’s new chips have impressive overall performance and stunningly low power consumption so Intel has plenty of catching up to do for Arrow Lake to compete, as its current Raptor Lake-S chips (Intel Core 14th gen) are monstrously power-hungry.
For more on what we know so far about Arrow Lake, check out our Arrow lake guide, and read up on AMD’s latest architecture too in our AMD Zen 5 guide.